Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker said Thursday that German, Korean and Chinese companies have submitted bids to establish a power grid to generate electricity from coal, with construction planned for next March at Hamrawein area in the Red Sea governorate.
He added that the ministry is waiting for those companies to submit their technical proposals for the station and asked that electric capacity at the plant reach 6 thousand megawatts.
Shaker added that there is a plan underway to improve the power network transport at an estimated cost of up to about LE18 billion, in order to strengthen transport networks and improve their efficiency, thus enabling them to absorb the added generative capacity.
Shaker said that despite the flotation of the Egyptian pound and the increased financial burden on the ministry, which imports power grids and natural gas components from abroad in hard currency, the electricity sector is the only sector that doesn't have to raise prices.
He added that subsidies to the electricity bills may reach LE30 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, but it is expected that they will double the current amount.
